Cymbals Eat Guitars

"Wanna wake up wanting to listen to records / But those old feelings elude me / I raise a toast to the rock n' roll ghost," sings Cymbals Eat Guitars frontman Joseph D'Agostino on the hyper-adrenalized "XR," which sounds like a Tonight's the Night outtake recorded at triple speed, with its braying harmonica and spitfire vocal delivery. It's the track that perhaps best captures the spirit of the band's third LP, LOSE, one of coping with abject loss and grief by rediscovering what you've always loved, as difficult as it may be  the redemptive power of music.

LOSE is a flat-out superb record, the best the band have ever made  a headlong rush of regret sublimated into a grand catharsis.

"These songs are a joy to play, and hopefully they will be a joy to listen to," says D'Agostino. "I know I still get chills from every song on this record, so that has to mean something. You have to trust that feeling."